Teachers' contract settled in Avon Grove

PENN — The Avon Grove School Board approved a new teachers contract by a 5-4 vote Thursday.

The vote could have been a tie if some board members had had their way. Board members Donald Needham and William Sites challenged the appropriateness of member Herman Engel’s vote, saying there was a conflict of interest because Engel’s wife is a teacher in the school district.

“It has been looked at four different times since Mr. Engle came on this board, and it comes back the same each time,” board member Robert Weidenmuller countered.

Sites challenged board President Bonnie Wolff to read the definition of conflict of interest from Roberts Rules of Order. She consulted the book and called for a 10-minute recess but when the session resumed and Sites asked again for the passage to be read, she did not respond to that request.

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“With legal advice, we are going to continue with the vote,” she stated.

Needham expressed his concerns before the vote was taken as well as the costs of legal advice that the district is paying. “It appears some board members had contacted the attorney without board approval,” he said.

Joining Sites and Needham in voting against the contract were Charles Beatty and Bruce Dobsch.

“This is a great contract except for two items: fair share and PACE,” Dobsch prefaced his vote.

The fair share provision refers to an amount that employees, who choose not to join the association, pay for association services, such as representation and collective bargaining. The amount is based on a percentage of total membership dues, determined by a formula, and is less than the total amount of dues that a member pays. All employees are required to pay the fair share through payroll deduction.

Also upsetting to the non-union teachers is the provision in the contract that allows teachers to make a voluntary contribution to PACE political action committee, which will be deducted from their salaries.

“I am being forced to pay for representation I have never wanted,” teacher Jane Ladley said. “This contract needs to go back to negotiations and remove the fair share language and the dues deduction.”

Approximately 15 percent of the district’s teachers are not union members and several spoke to the board during the public comment session.

“Where is the fairness in taking money out of our pay without our permission,” said non-union teacher Robin Fought, who also opposed the district handling PACE donations. “These contributions are purely political and should not be facilitated by taxpayers.”

Education Association member teachers also came to the podium to address the board, including Tim Parkinson who was a member of the negotiating team.

He wanted the public to know that the union and the administration were not alone in the 14 months of negotiations. “The tentative agreement you are about to vote on is set forth by the state mediator. We both tweaked that proposal. An independent third party person put that proposal together.”

The contract keeps salaries at present levels in the 2012-13 school year, and then adds a 2.89 percent salary increase in 2013-14. Supplemental contracts remain frozen for both years.

The current health care and prescription plans will be changed to less expensive plans with employees paying increased premium shares up to 12 percent.

It is estimated that the district will save $500,000 through the end of the contract compared to continuing at present terms.

“I felt the board members didn’t have an opportunity to express what their opinion was about the contract and certain provisions of it, like fair share, that I think are un-American,” Sites said after the meeting. “It’s a sad day, really; it’s a spear at the heart of education.”